North Carolina, constituent state of the United States of America. One of the 13 original states, it lies on the Atlantic coast midway between New York and Florida and is bounded to the north by Virginia, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by South Carolina and Georgia, and to the west by Tennessee. The terrain of North Carolina is among the wettest in the country, with vast marshlands in the coastal tidewater area and numerous lakes in the Piedmont and Appalachian regions. These three physical regions account for much of the diversity in lifestyles and cultures within the state’s boundaries. The capital is Raleigh.

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North Carolina’s beginnings were tied closely to the earliest attempts at English colonization of North America. Roanoke Island in the northeast, a part of the heavily indented and island-fringed coast, was the site of the famous “lost colony” that vanished sometime after the original landing in 1587. This eastern region retains some of the flavour of colonial life, while the Piedmont region, centred at Charlotte and Raleigh, has become the state’s hub of industry and population. The mountains of the west remain the focus of a lively rural culture, including that of an indigenousCherokeecommunity that has lived in the region for centuries.

Beginning in the mid-20th century, North Carolina experienced population growth at a much higher rate than the national average. This was largely attributable to its vibrant economy, which featured one of the strongest manufacturing sectors in the country—and the strongest in the South. At the same time, the state’s service sector also expanded, keeping pace with the trend of the national economy. North Carolina’s prosperity, natural beauty, and reputation for stable government have given it an image of progress and opportunity, even as it maintains its strong Southern identity. Area 53,819 square miles (139,391 square km). Population (2010) 9,535,483; (2016 est.) 10,146,788.

Land

Relief

North Carolina extends across three major physiographic regions of the United States—the Coastal Plain (or tidewater area), the Piedmont, and the Appalachian Mountains. In addition to producing a spectacular landscape, this regional variation has influenced the state’s climate, soils, plant life, and human geography.

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The Upper South.

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As the land reaches westward from sea level, it rises gradually to the fall line, a zone some 30 miles (50 km) in width that separates the Coastal Plain from the Piedmont. In the latter region, the topography becomes irregular, and the land rises about 5 feet (1.5 metres) per mile to the base of the Appalachians, a distance of about 140 miles (225 km). The mountains have a worn, rounded appearance, reflecting a geologic origin earlier than that of the rugged peaks of the American West. Mount Mitchell, rising to 6,684 feet (2,037 metres), is the highest peak east of the Mississippi.

Composing nearly half the state, the Coastal Plain consists of a gently rolling, well-drained interior and a swampy tidewater area close to the coastline. The latter region was the first to be explored and settled. A long chain of islands, the Outer Banks, extends from Virginia to South Carolina, generally consisting of sand dunes that can reach 100 feet (30 metres) or more in height. Three capes—Hatteras, Lookout, and Fear, the first two within national seashores—jut into the ocean in an area known as the “graveyard of the Atlantic,” a reference to the many ships that have sunk in its dangerous waters. The elevation of the entire area averages less than 20 feet (6 metres) above sea level. Only small-craft navigation is possible, because of silting and the shallow sounds and estuaries.

Bald Head Island with lighthouse (foreground) at the mouth of the Cape Fear River, southeastern …

The inner Coastal Plain extends 120 to 140 miles (190 to 225 km) westward to the Piedmont, which is a region of rolling, forested hills. The prominent ridges and hills of the eastern Piedmont may be the remains of an ancient mountain chain that paralleled the Appalachians, from which spurs extend into the western Piedmont. The area is well drained by rivers flowing into the Coastal Plain or South Carolina. Dams on the Catawba and Yadkin rivers are important sources of hydroelectric power.

The mountain region comprises a plateau broken by two ranges of the southern Appalachians. On the east are the Blue Ridge Mountains, which rise steeply from the Piedmont to peaks of 3,000 to 4,000 feet (900 to 1,200 metres), with several reaching above 6,000 feet (1,800 metres). In the far west the Unaka Mountains contain the Great Smoky Mountains, which roll westward into Tennessee. This region is divided into several cross ridges and a number of smaller plateaus and basins. One of the chief ridges is made up of the Black Mountain group. Some 100 peaks rise above 5,000 feet (1,500 metres) in the western part of the state.

Deep Creek valley, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, western North Carolina.

Terry Donnelly—The Image Bank/Getty Images

Drainage and soils

North Carolina has some 3,820 square miles (9,890 square km) of inland water, the third largest such area of any state. Lake Mattamuskeet, covering some 63 square miles (162 square km) in the state’s eastern tidewater area, is North Carolina’s largest natural lake. Lakes are especially abundant in the Catawaba River basin of the state’s southwest Piedmont and Appalachian region; the river itself is largely a chain of man-made reservoirs. The Catawba is the most densely populated river basin in the state. The Cape Fear River basin, which occupies much of North Carolina’s southeastern quadrant, is the largest. The Roanoke River drains the state’s northeastern corner, flowing southeast from Virginia into the ocean at Albermarle Sound. Bisecting North Carolina from north to south is the Yadkin–Pee Dee River. The Little Tennessee and French Broad rivers flow northwest from the mountains of North Carolina into Tennessee. Raleigh is drained by the Neuse River, which empties into the Atlantic at New Bern.

Soils in North Carolina are commonly grouped according to regional variations. Coastal soils are rich and humus-laden, while farther to the west the hills consist mostly of sand and have almost no organic materials. The Piedmont region is predominately clayey, and mountain soils are a combination of clay, sand, and silt, commonly called loam. All of North Carolina’s soils are affected by excessive leaching, which causes high mineral loss, and successful agriculture depends on large additions of lime and fertilizers.

Climate

North Carolina’s climate ranges from medium continental conditions in the mountain region, though summers are cooler and rainfall heavier, to the subtropical conditions of the state’s southeastern corner. The growing season ranges from 275 days along the coast to 175 days in the mountains. Average annual temperatures range from 66 °F (19 °C) in the eastern region to 60 °F (16 °C) in the central region and 55 °F (13 °C) in the mountains. July and August are the wettest months, and October and November are the driest. Annual precipitation varies from 46 to 54 inches (1,170 to 1,370 mm) on the coast, 44 to 50 inches (1,120 to 1,270 mm) in the Piedmont, and 40 to 80 inches (1,015 to 2,030 mm) in the mountains. Severe storms are rare and heavy snow infrequent. Hurricanes occasionally occur along the coast, and there have been tornadoes inland.

Tunnel on the Blue Ridge Parkway in late autumn, western North Carolina, U.S.

Plant and animal life

Vegetation varies greatly throughout the state, primarily because of the geographic and climatic differences between the three main regions. However, changes effected by human habitation are perhaps becoming an equally significant determinant of the state’s biodiversity. Although more than half the state is still covered with forests, many trees have been cut and burned, not only affecting animal life by changing important habitats but also contributing to soil erosion and leaching.

A broad spectrum of plant life is found in North Carolina, including many species of hardwood trees. Red spruces and balsam firs are found in the mountains, and the subtropical palmetto and the carnivorous pitcher plant (genus Sarracenia) and Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) grow in the southern coastal area.

The common fauna of North America, including rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, opossums, deer, and also bears and wildcats, are found within the state. Since the late 1980s, efforts have been under way to reintroduce the nearly extinct red wolf to North Carolina. The commonest birds are cardinals, wrens, mockingbirds, chickadees, and many varieties of woodpeckers and warblers. Freshwater fishes such as bluegills, crappie, bass, and sunfish are common in the inland areas. Brook and rainbow trout are found in the mountains.

People

Population composition

It is estimated that North Carolina was already inhabited by 35,000 to 50,000 indigenous people—primarily the Tuscarora and Catawba in the Coastal Plain and the Cherokee in the Appalachian Mountains—by the time the first European explorers arrived in the mid-16th century. In the late 1830s most of the largest remaining group of native people, the Cherokee, were forcibly removed to lands west of the Mississippi, an exodus recorded in history as the Trail of Tears (1838–39). Some Cherokee and other indigenous peoples remained in North Carolina, however, and by the early 21st century roughly 100,000 Native Americans lived in the state, constituting the largest indigenous population of any state east of the Mississippi River.

Permanent European settlers came into North Carolina in the 1650s from the English colony at Jamestown, Va. Others came down on the great wagon road from Pennsylvania through the Shenandoah Valley and into the Piedmont. Some came by ship from Europe. All yearned for a plot of land and for freedom from rigid class and religious restrictions. The early North Carolinians were a heterogeneous group, representing a variety of religions, nationalities, and economic and social classes. The Anglican church was established by law in the early 18th century, but there were also Presbyterians, Quakers, Moravians, Lutherans, Reformed, Baptists, Methodists, and a small number of Jews. Nationalities represented included English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh, Swiss, French, and German. The white, Euro-American community expanded over the centuries, amounting to nearly three-fourths of North Carolina’s population by the early 21st century.

Slaves of African descent were an important part of the early North Carolina population; the labour-intensive crops of rice, indigo, tobacco, and cotton stimulated the spread of slavery in the state, especially after the appearance of the cotton gin in the 1790s. In the early 21st century, African Americans accounted for about one-fifth of the population. Although disparities between the living conditions of white and black North Carolinians remain, a growing number of African Americans in the state have secured prominent positions in education, arts, sports, business, and politics.

North Carolina’s Hispanic population, though still a small minority, has been growing rapidly; the Hispanic community more than doubled in size between 1990 and 2000. Many of the state’s newer Hispanic residents came from Mexico largely in pursuit of employment in agriculture or manufacturing or on one of the state’s military installations.

Settlement patterns

In the sparsely populated mountain regions, especially in North Carolina’s southwest, ways of life have changed more gradually than in urban areas. Many communities, relatively isolated since the early history of the state, long remained self-sufficient. By the late 20th century, however, the isolation had been broken, with Asheville having become a resort centre and the surrounding slopes, national parks, and forests an all-season draw for tourists and outdoors enthusiasts.

The Piedmont region is a prime symbol of the New South, in which the modern manufacturing industry has largely replaced the traditional agriculture. A concentration of industry occurs in a sweeping crescent westward and southward from Raleigh to below Charlotte, the state’s largest city. This crescent experienced the greatest increase in population in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Rapid growth of such cities as Durham, Greensboro, and Winston-Salem has made North Carolina a leader in the country’s tobacco industry and significant in textiles and furniture production. The colleges and universities that have been most influential in the state’s history have also attracted residents to the Piedmont region.

Despite the large industrial employment, about one-third of North Carolina’s population remains rural. Many industrial plants are located in small towns, but a good portion of their workforce commutes from rural regions. Rapid urbanization and the persistence of extremely rural areas accentuate the demographic contrasts in the state. Traditional patterns of subsistence and small-farm agriculture, however, are giving way to the consolidated farms of agribusiness.

Economy

North Carolina’s economy was based mainly on the growing of tobacco in the 1700s and 1800s and on the manufacture of tobacco products and textiles in the early 1900s. While these activities remain important segments of the state’s economy, they have largely been overshadowed by other industries and services. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries North Carolina’s economy generated jobs at a higher rate than the national average in many areas.

Agriculture and forestry

Agriculture remains a small but important component of the state’s economy, although the number of people it employs continues to decline. There are nearly 50,000 farms in the state; the great majority are relatively small—about 180 acres (75 hectares) or less—and most are operated by people who earn much of their income from farming. North Carolina is a national leader in the production of sweet potatoes, dry beans, tobacco, pigs, broilers (chickens), and turkeys. Other principal agricultural products include eggs, soybeans, and cotton. Farm income tends to be greatest in the central and southern counties of the Coastal Plain.

Farming and processing of chickens in North Carolina

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With its abundance of forests, North Carolina has long been a leader in the production of lumber, wood for furniture, Christmas trees, pulp for paper, and other wood products. The principal trees are pines, largely harvested in the Coastal Plain and the Piedmont region. Hardwoods such as oak, hickory, ash, and poplar are drawn primarily from the Appalachian Mountains and parts of the Piedmont. Several active reforestation and forest sustainability programs have resulted in a growth of forest reserves, for both commercial and private or otherwise nonindustrial use.

Resources and power

In addition to its forest resources, North Carolina has large reserves of nonmetallic rocks and minerals. The state is a leader in the production of phosphate rock, lithium minerals, feldspar, olivine, mica, and pyrophillite. Many of these resources are used in the construction industry, along with dimension and building stone, crushed granite, common clay (for bricks), gravel, and sand. Various gemstones are also found in the state.

North Carolina’s electric power is generated mainly by coal-fired thermal plants, with several nuclear stations supplying nearly one-third of the total. Most of the remainder is produced by the state’s numerous hydroelectric dams.

Manufacturing

For nearly a century North Carolina has remained the most successful manufacturing state in the South and one of the top manufacturing states in the country. Aside from developing solid tobacco and textile industries in the 20th century, the state also emerged as a major centre for furniture making. Throughout the first half of the century, nearly half of the state’s nonfarm workforce was employed in those three industries, but since the 1970s the state has steadily lost textile jobs. By the early 21st century, manufacturing accounted for less than one-fifth of all employment and for roughly one-fifth of the gross domestic product (GDP). The industrial base had become more diversified, with especially strong growth in computers, electronic communications equipment, chemicals, and machinery. Production of processed foods, particularly for domestic consumption, also has commanded a significant share of the sector.

Flue-cured tobacco ready for auction in Oxford, North Carolina.

Larry Lefever from Grant Heilman

Services

Since 1950, North Carolina’s service activities have expanded rapidly. Major military installations, as well as a diverse tourism sector, have become important contributors to the state’s economy. In the 1980s and ’90s Charlotte became both a regional and national centre for banking operations. In addition, the Raleigh–Durham–Chapel Hill area (dubbed the Research Triangle) has grown to encompass a wide variety of research and development activities and has spurred much new job growth, mainly in technology-based manufacturing and services. The service sector, including hospitality (restaurants and accommodations) as well as professional, scientific, technical, health care, and social services, constitutes a major portion of the state’s GDP.

Transportation

Geographically, North Carolina is one day’s trucking time both north to New York City and south to the rapidly expanding Florida market. The vast majority of freight is transported by road using the state’s highway system; most of the remainder is carried by rail. The state has several commercial airports, although only two—at Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte—offer international passenger service. Those two facilities serve as hubs for national airlines, providing direct flights to many domestic destinations. A number of regional airports offer short flights to larger connecting cities. Deepwater ports at Wilmington and Morehead City are North Carolina’s two Atlantic gateways to world markets and are equipped to handle any type of cargo. The Intracoastal Waterway threads its way between the Outer Banks and the mainland from New Jersey to the Gulf of Mexico.

Section of the Blue Ridge Parkway at Grandfather Mountain, western North Carolina, U.S.

Government and society

Constitutional framework

The structure of the government of North Carolina is based on constitutions of 1776, 1868, and 1971. Administration of the state is supervised by elected executives, including the governor and lieutenant governor (each limited to two four-year terms, not necessarily consecutive), and by the heads of state agencies, some of whom are elected for four-year terms and some of whom are appointed. The General Assembly consists of the 50-member Senate and the 120-member House of Representatives. Both senators and representatives are elected for two-year terms. The governor has great appointive powers and, since 1996, the authority to veto legislation. Gubernatorial vetoes may be overridden, however, by a vote of three-fifths of those present in each house of the General Assembly.

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The state is divided into more than 40 judicial districts. District courts deal primarily with less-serious civil and criminal matters. Each district elects, for four-year terms, its district court judges and a district attorney, who represents the state in all criminal matters. The superior courts handle the more-serious criminal and civil cases. Superior court judges for each district are chosen in statewide elections for terms of eight years. Above the superior courts are the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. The latter is the highest state court; it has seven justices elected for eight-year terms (justices may run for reelection). The Court of Appeals was established by a constitutionalamendment in 1967 to help relieve the state’s Supreme Court. It has 15 judges, all elected for eight-year terms.

North Carolina is divided into 100 counties. County governments act for the state in providing education, health care, and welfare services. Locally elected officials for each county include county commissioners, a sheriff, a registrar of deeds, a clerk of the superior court, and members of the school board.

Compared with those of many other states, North Carolina’s local government is fairly uncomplicated. In general, counties provide services that apply to all citizens of the state, while municipalities provide the additional services appropriate for urban areas. As urban development has continued, counties have been authorized to offer services that are similar to those provided by municipalities, such as water supply and garbage collection. Because North Carolina’s constitution discourages the incorporation of municipalities near existing ones, North Carolina is relatively free from the proliferation of new municipal governments in urban areas that is found in many other states.

North Carolina has long been dominated by the Democratic Party. The majority of state and local officeholders are Democrats, but candidates from the rival Republican Party have made major gains. Since 1970 the number of Republicans in the General Assembly has increased, and the state has usually voted Republican in presidential elections. North Carolina has also elected Republicans to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives and, on occasion, to the governorship.

Health and welfare

State-funded hospitals cover a number of specialized areas, such as children’s development, alcoholism, retardation and mental illness, and tuberculosis. An effective public health program has been in operation since 1877, and each county has a local health department. State aid is provided to senior citizens and people with disabilities, to families with dependent children, and to various counseling and other social service programs. However, the state’s per capita social expenditures remain far below the national average.

Education

The public school system, supported by the state since 1933, has improved steadily, though it is still below national levels. Although expenditures for education remain in the bottom quintile nationwide, North Carolina has made significant increases since the late1990s.

In higher education, however, North Carolina has a number of institutions of national standing. The University of North Carolina (UNC) opened its doors to students at Chapel Hill in 1795 as the first state university in the United States. Since 1972 all 16 senior public institutions have been part of the UNC system, and all are governed by a single board elected by the General Assembly. In addition to Chapel Hill, its campuses include North Carolina State University (1887) at Raleigh; the North Carolina School of the Arts (1963) at Winston-Salem, which was the first state-supported residential school for the performing arts; and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (1891) at Greensboro, one of the largest historically black institutions in the country. The state’s community college system, which comprises more than 50 institutions, is one of the largest in the United States. Most of North Carolina’s many private colleges and universities were established by various Protestant denominations. Of these institutions, Duke University (1839) in Durham, Wake Forest University (1834) in Winston-Salem, and Davidson College (1837) in Davidson are among the most prominent.

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One of the original 13 states of the United States, North Carolina is rich with history. In 1587 it was the birthplace of Virginia Dare, the first child born of English parents in America. Almost 200 years later, in 1775, the colony of North Carolina became the first to approve a vote for independence from Great Britain. The state also was the site of the first successful airplane flight, by the Wright brothers in 1903. The state capital is Raleigh.

The U.S. state of North Carolina is graced with natural beauty, a generally pleasant climate, and abundant natural resources. One of the 13 original states, North Carolina is also rich in history. As the site of the first English colony in the New World, it was the birthplace of Virginia Dare, the first child born of English parents in America. In 1775 North Carolina was the first colony to authorize a vote for independence from England. Twenty years later it opened the first state university in the United States. In 1903, near Kitty Hawk, the Wright brothers launched the new age of transportation when they made the first flights in a self-propelled aircraft.

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